Joe Allen & Dumplings' Legend: Covent Garden & Chinatown, Saturday December 17th, 2011

Two Christmas parties having been taken care of - one with friends and one with work - it was time for the last festive hurrah of the season. The football lads' meal which included both ex-bloggers Mike and Tom was, as ever, held at Joe Allen in Covent Garden.

It is the ultimate in fun group dining. Despite the food here never being world-beating, it is solid. The burger was ordered again, and yet again, it was fabulous (left). With Byron and Bar Boulud being at the top of my burger list these days, it's so easy to forget how original the Joe Allen burger is. This was cooked rare as anything, served with classic fries and a gherkin.

The rest of the meal is almost not worth mentioning, so iconic is the burger. However, the standard was still at the reasonably high level we have come to expect: Eggs Benedict as rich as ever, salads as punchy as you could wish for, chocolate mousse cake a sweet treat (right).

The atmosphere really is the big draw here, as I have mentioned before. The vibrant hum of the place is one of the most genuinely lively and assured atmospheres you will find in any London restaurant. Friendly noise, helpful service and a well-judged pace make Joe Allen a remarkably comfortable restaurant as well as a fun one.

Some time and several bars later, two friends and I were still standing and in the mood for some late night sustenance. When you're in central London at some godforsaken time in the morning, the only place to go is Chinatown. As long as you can separate the wheat from the chaff, there are some really affordable gems to be had along Gerrard Street, Lisle Street and Whitcomb Street.

On this night we opted for the relatively empty Dumplings' Legend, a place the wife and I first tried a long time ago. Since then, it has apparently changed hands a few times, re-opened and generally been through the mill. I was quite surprised to see it still standing, to be honest. However, remembering there were some good parts to our previous meal there, I suggested this be the location of our final festive graze of the night.

It was a good decision. In their slightly squiffy state, my friends opted for some spicy seafood noodles and a simple Chinese curry with rice. Both of them wolfed it down. Each was way better than the sort of dreck you've seen dozens of times from your local Chinese and a different world completely from the sort of food most people are eating in the wee hours in central London.

My choice was simple and well-informed. Taiwan-style pork dumplings are what the place is famous for and  that is precisely what I was in the mood for (left). I mentioned a while ago that the dumplings I ate in Taipei were the best ever - quite rightly so too - but these were no mean alternative. Properly soft and slippery with a delicate as opposed to rough filling, these were actually impressive. Especially for the early hours of a Sunday morning.

With the December wind whipping through us, we called it a night. Back in the day a club would have been involved, but age is catching up with us. When you get to the stage where age begins to affect your social events, you want familiarity, comfort and value for money. On the last major event before Christmas, we had both thanks to a brilliant institution in Covent Garden and a half-secret one in Chinatown.

Joe Allen

Dumplings' Legend